


The Sadness on Your Forearm

by natus_ka



Category: Produce 101 (TV), X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Kissing, Late Night Conversations, Light Angst, M/M, One Shot, Sad Ending, prepare handkerchiefs for the ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 06:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20792378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natus_ka/pseuds/natus_ka
Summary: Soulmate AU where Yohan is in an overnight jail and Seungwoo pretends to be his soulmate to bail him out. They end up spending the rest of the night together. But who was Seungwoo's soulmate-tattoo for?





	The Sadness on Your Forearm

**Author's Note:**

> For the sake of the story lets pretend that every character mentioned has zero or one tattoo, but no more than one.
> 
> ____  
I would like to thank everyone who supported this idea on twitter, the exposure it got made me motivated to write this short story, I hope you will enjoy it.

He acknowledged he had fucked up. He had had just some drinks and some fun at the night club, nothing out of ordinary. And then there had been this one guy who still had been trying something on him. Yohan hadn't known what had been the guy's intentions. Had he wanted to fuck him? Be fucked? Sell drugs? Doesn't matter. But he had gone from extremely annoying to I-want-to-be-kicked-in-the-face annoying as the night had progressed.

So Yohan had hit him. He had felt the accomplishment through his whole body. The punch had hit right in the face. The guy's jaw had clenched. It would hurt for long and that's good, had thought Yohan. What he hadn't expected had been the guy coming back on him with a pocket knife. Luckily Yohan was a Taekwondo champion so he had easily avoided the attack, had disposed the guy of his knife and had hit him again, all in just a few seconds.

The guy deserved this way more than Yohan, he only had done some self-defense, okay he probably had started the fight but in the end, he hadn't been the one to bring a weapon. None of this had helped in changing the mind of the police officers who had been called to the scene and brought Yohan with them to the police station.

So here he was, behind the bars in the over-night cell. His current situation wasn't in his favor. The options he had were very limited. A) getting someone to bail him out or B) wait 48 hours until the police let him out. The bailing out looked like the right answer but there were two obstacles.

1) Calling his parents technically wasn't an option since they would definitely kill him, not because he had fought with some random dude, but because he had gone to a party in a bar! They had an innocent image about him, a perfect son they said. He wouldn't expose himself with a gem like being in jail.

And 2) calling his roommate. When choosing between parents and Hangyul the second option it was! To his misfortune, his roommate wasn't picking up his phone. Nothing unsurprising since Hangyul was the one who had persuaded him to go clubbing that day. He was probably wasted somewhere or still in the club enjoying the night. It was given that the idiot wouldn't pick up his damn phone but Yohan had nobody else to call to.

With both of his options going down the drain, he could only wait. 48 hours was a long damn time. After about an hour of being bored to death, he stood up and moved the closest to the bars he could. He called for an officer asking her to be so kind and let him go. He did tell her the whole story again and again and how it wasn't his fault, or how he wasn't even drunk (yep surprisingly he hadn't drunk much because he had known he would be taking care of Hangyul and doing that while drunk would be a pain). And so he wouldn't do anything stupid if the police let him out. But they wouldn't let him go, what was he thinking for the god's sake, but he still had to try his best in persuading the officer. He tried crying, pleading eyes, puppy look, aegyo, everything, but nothing worked.

"Please miss officer, help me out here." After so much persuading he was ready to give up. His head hung down he turned back and wanted to go sit back where he was sitting before. But something made him not want to give up. He turned on his heels once again, forming some new excuse why he shouldn't be in a cell, but before he could say something probably stupid and pointless again a new voice could be heard in the office.

"Hello"

A tall lanky guy entered the room and greeted everyone with a slight bow. It was quite unusual to see someone willingly enter a police station at 3 am. Like who the hell visits it at this hour? The guy sat in front of the female officer who was Yohan talking to not so long ago. The officer looked at him with questioning eyes. But what happened next was even more unexpected than his sudden visit and it left everyone open-mouthed and in bewilderment.

"I am here to bail Yohan out, where should I sign?"

The statement was said boldly, no wavering in the guy's voice, the tone unchanging as well. He fucking meant what he said. Yohan's eyes shot open in shock. He almost said "What the heck" out loud, almost. He wondered how did this random guy know his name, who was he and where he got the idea that he should bail him out when they didn't know each other at all. Maybe Yohan was delusional or the guy sitting in front of the officer was. The day couldn't turn out more weirder than this.

The female officer didn't believe him a bit. She was eyeing him with a suspicious look. And asked him with an authoritative tone who he is to the mentioned offender. Ohh, so they called Yohan an offender now, amazing.

"I hope you know that not anyone can sign the release form, I will ask again, how are you related to the offender?"

Remember how the biggest shock was that the dude asked to bail Yohan out? It should be taken back because the dude said something, even more, crazier this time.

The guy looked Yohan in the face for the first time since he entered the station and smiled at him. The corners of his mouth reached his eyes and small dimples formed on his cheeks.

"I am his soulmate"

The guy couldn't come up with a more unbelievable lie. As far as Yohan knew, he didn't have a soulmate yet unless something had changed during the past few hours since he last checked himself. He did check himself up before they went to the bar with Hangyul.

Yohan was used to checking his body for any visible tattoo-like marks on his skin daily. The mark would appear on someone's skin the second they encountered their soulmate but because it did not sting or anything he wouldn't know unless he checked directly. 99% of soulmates shared the exact same tattoo, identical motive but different placement. The remaining 1% shared tattoos which complemented each other. But those cases were truly rare because these tattoos appeared only on the people who had no chance of having any other soulmate in their lifetime. It happened many times that even people who were bound by the string of fate fell off their love even before they could fall in and the universe decided their soulmate would change. But those 1% were meant to stay with their soulmates forever. It was a dream of many but also a curse.

Even the officer sensed that the guy's statement was probably a lie but she had a protocol to follow and therefore she asked with a skeptical look for some kind of a proof as showing the couple tattoo to her.

Yohan was sure this would go downhill very soon, he wasn't sure what will happen when they find out the guy had lied, but now he was only dumbfoundedly waiting for what was to come next.

The stranger didn't waver a bit and rolled up the sleeve of his oversized hoodie to show off his beautiful light purple lilac flower tattoo covering his forearm. The color complimented the guy's porcelain-like skin, Yohan has seen many tattoo marks but none this delicate.

The officer nodded slowly and before she could approach Yohan to check his tattoo as well, the stranger stopped her. He slowly moved his head near hers and whispered something to her ear. Her face turned red like a tomato sauce.

She turned on her heels and within seconds brought a release form for the guy to sign. Yohan couldn't believe his eyes, what had just happened. With something as simple as a sign Yohan was permitted to leave. He took his belongings and followed the stranger outside the station.

____

After seeing them leave the station an older male officer approached the young female officer who had been assigned to handle Yohan's case.

"That kid is quite something." He said in an amused tone.

"You mean Kim Yohan?"

"No, I mean the other one." He smiled a bit, almost proudly.

"Do you know him chief?"

"You should have checked him carefully officer, they are not soulmates." The female officer tensed up, did she mess up already, she was still in her training period, are they going to discipline her?

"There is no need to be so tense, Seungwoo is a good boy, so it's fine." With that, the male officer patted her on the back to reassure her that it was in fact okay.

"You still have a lot to learn so now go and make the two of us a coffee. I will tell you how I met the guy that just fooled you."

____

When they left the station Yohan had no idea what he should be doing. He was still shaken or rather confused by what had happened. He had so many questions but didn't know how to start a conversation. He simply followed the stranger who knows to where.

Walking behind him he had a bit of time to look the guy up a bit. He looked pretty normal in Yohan's opinion. Skinny black jeans not quite hugging his thighs, oversized hoodie, worn-out sneakers, dark brown hair falling in the boy's eyes. He probably wasn't a thread to Yohan if at any time he decided to attack him or whatever.

When they were far enough from the station the stranger turned to him but was mostly hypnotizing his own shoes. He was treading nervously on the ground. Yohan helped to lessen the guy's nervousness by breaking the silence.

"Hey thanks man, for helping me out, you know."

"No worries, you should go home kiddo." Yohan couldn't believe he called him a kiddo when he looked exactly his age.

"I am not a kid, I am Yohan, Kim Yohan. But you probably know that since you looked like you know much about me at the police station."

A small smile crept on the stranger's face, it was caused by Yohan's cute remark of not being a kid, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

"And I probably have no way of how to get home unless a miracle happens."

Yohan's phone battery died a long ago, the keys to his dormitory room had Hangyul, he was penny-less and it would take hours to go back home by foot, since at this hour no busses were going his direction. Plus he didn't want to part ways with the stranger yet, he had questions that needed to be answered for example what all of this meant. And who was the shady-looking guy in front of him.

"We probably started a bit off, let me correct it. My name is Kim Yohan, I am a sophomore at Sangmyung University and-"

"And to me you are just a kid who got wasted and locked in an overnight jail, nothing more, nothing less."

Yohan was surprised by the guy's reaction but not discouraged. "Why did you help me then?"

"I was bored?" said the guy with a questioning intonation.

Yohan was pissed. Was the guy messing with him? He started showering him with questions like how did he know he needed help or whether he was an organ trafficker or some murderer. He was quite expecting the dude to ambush him, or trying something shady on him.

"What were your intentions then?" Apparently only this one question reached the stranger and made him speak. "It does not matter." With that the guy turned around and started walking off, leaving Yohan behind.

Yohan was quick on his heels, he shortened the distance between the two bodies and grabbed the guy's arm a little bit more harshly than intended.

"I am not done with you yet, answer me or I am not letting you go." Even if he had any alcohol in his system Yohan was pretty much sober now and he was serious with what he had said. He looked the stranger in the eyes with a determination to get his answers without any exception.

"Seungwoo." Very thin and almost inaudible voice was heard followed by a cough.

"Excuse me?"

"My name, I am Seungwoo."

"Ahh…"

"And I helped you because you look hopeless there."

Yohan blinked. "Wha-"

"I know how hard it is to wait for some kind of rescue that probably won't ever come. So I helped you?" The way he said it was as if he wasn't sure about his own actions. Yohan was impatient and disturbed the guy who was extremely slow at getting to the point.

"And how did you know my n-"

"I heard the officer call you by your name."

The two of them stood in the dark alley under the flashlight depicting their shadows on the ground. It was a quiet night, which was to be expected in that district at that hour. The silence was uncomfortable.

"So is the mystery solved now, can I go?" Yohan didn't get what the stranger exactly meant by asking him if he could leave. But then he felt a weak yank which made him finally notice that he was still clutching the guy's arm.

"Sorry" He loosened the grip and retreated with his hand. "Yeah, sure." Yohan wasn't usually the one to let go easily, he was known for being persistent, but this time he felt it was the right thing to do. The guy in front of him looked sad and tired and Yohan wasn't a heartless person. The guy without any other word continued in the direction he was going to before.

Yohan could only sit on the concrete and wait until the morning busses started their shifts. He was cold and hungry, he must have looked funny wearing the clubbing attire, many would have thought he was wasted. He didn't have the strength to get up and do some walking to warmer his body.

Out of nowhere he felt warmness on his shoulder he found the source of the sudden heat in a jacket. And behind him stood the stranger, Seungwoo was it? Whose jacket it probably was although it didn't look much of a something the guy would wear.

"Let's go to somewhere else," suggested Seungwoo and Yohan blindly followed. After a bit of walking they appeared at Han River, the place they stopped at looked somehow magical, very different from how it looks under the brightness of the day time.

Seungwoo sat down on the grass and stared at the water.

"Let's just enjoy the night as two strangers, shall we?"

Yohan hugged the borrowed jacket closer to his body to get the most possible comfort out of it and joined Seungwoo on the ground. He was sure the grass would become rosy in just a few hours but now he couldn't be bothered more. He felt a summer breeze on his spine but it wasn't uncomfortable. The wind made the leaves move and create an orchestra. Cicadas made sure there was never a complete silence. The place spoke calmness.

Seungwoo broke off the silence between them. "The stars are pretty today."

Yohan's head shot up. He was so mesmerized by his surroundings that it didn't even cross his mind to look up at the night sky. Seungwoo was right. The place had very little artificial lighting so the sky was showing up clearly. He saw a few well-known constellations. This was beautiful, he had no idea the place harbored this much beauty.

"Do you go here often?" Was the first question that crossed Yohan's mind.

"Quite often. No specific reason though, I just like it here."

Yohan did not expect such a long sentence from Seungwoo who up till now wasn't hesitant to not answer or gave vague responses. Although the atmosphere was awkward between the two Yohan continued to interact with the other.

"Thanks again, Hope your soulmate won't be mad that you used your tattoo and pretended to be my soulmate to get me out. I am forever indebted to you."

"It's fine" yet another plain response was given to Yohan. But he guessed some discomfort in Seungwoo's voice when answering this time. He guessed the soulmate thing could have been a sensitive topic for Seungwoo.

What Yohan couldn't hide was his curiosity about what exactly had happened at the police station, so he decided to ask Seungwoo again. And he especially wanted to know if Seungwoo had some kind of side intentions. They had the whole night, there was no reason to rush, he would find out in the end but he couldn't focus properly on anything else.

"What did you even say to the female officer that she believed you are my soulmate?"

"Oh, after showing her my tattoo I told her that your's is located on a very private part of your body and it would be extremely inappropriate to check it.

"Oh god" Yohan started laughing so hard. "Do you have experiences with this, how could you think of that?"

Yohan's words weren't ment to be a question it was more of a rhetorical statement so Seungwoo stayed silent.

"Me and my roommate Hangyul, the guy who was supposed to bail me out but was too busy enjoying his night at the club, pretended to be soulmates once. The reason was this one girl who stalked him for about a year. We made her give up, almost. It all looked good until Hangyul found out she was actually supposed to be his soulmate. To explain to her that it was only a joke took us about a week." Yohan had no idea why he shared that boring story with a random dude he met about a half an hour ago. He just felt like it was a good idea to hold some conversation. The guy seemed shy so he hoped this would have helped to break the ice.

"We did something similar."

"Tell me about it." Yohan urged Seungwoo to speak.

"There was this guy hitting on Seungyoun" Seungyoun was probably Seungwoo's friend or soulmate concluded Yohan. "So we made a scene in the coffee shop where Youn pretended to find his spark in me and we kissed in front of the dude. He was so shocked that he dropped the whole tray with coffee cups on the floor." With that memory, Seungwoo got a bit emotional. Although his lips formed a thin line, supposedly a smile, Yohan could tell by his eyes, that Seungwoo wasn't smiling, he was sad.

A single tear left the corner of Seungwoo's eye. Yohan turned his face back to the water, he pretended like it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen, out of consideration. He guessed Seungwoo would prefer not to show his weakness to some random guy in the park at 3 am.

They were quiet again. Seungwoo's face was illuminated by the moon, his eyes were shining because of almost invisible tears forming in his eyes. Yohan hesitated for a bit but then gathered all his courage and put his palm on the top of Seungwoo's hand intending to comfort him. They sat like that both lost in their respective thoughts.

Suddenly Yohan turned to Seungwoo and closed the distance between them. He kissed Seungwoo on his lips. They tasted a bit salty, because he was crying but that didn't stop Yohan in exploring how far he could go. The kiss carried so many unspoken words. When their lips parted to catch their breaths their faces stayed close. Seungwoo felt Yohan's breath on his face, that's how short the distance was. Their eyes met, Seungwoo's were full of raw emotions of longing and a need of a touch. Yohan, on the other hand, felt lust and some kind of responsibility (?) towards the other.

Yohan lowered his gaze and observed Seungwoo's lips. He linked their eye contact again to get Seungwoo's permission to kiss him again. Seungwoo nodded slightly which was a signal for Yohan to connect their lips again. This time the kiss was hungrier, more sensual. Seungwoo even opened his mouth to let Yohan inside.

They talked a lot and kissed a lot throughout the hour they spent there, near the Han River, until the time Seungwoo stood up and took Yohan's hand.

"Let's watch the sunrise."

They got back to where the police station was, according to Seungwoo the building right next to it was the most beautiful spot to watch the sunrise from. The went up the excruciatingly painful amount of stairs until they stood on the roof.

"This is amazing"

"Take away the sunrise of tomorrow so I can live in darkness." Murmured Seungwoo, Yohan was confused but decided to not comment on it. He just wanted to enjoy that specific moment fully. He stretched out for Seungwoo's hand and engulfed it in his grip without breaking out from watching the sun rising.

____

The coffee although cheap from the coffee machine worked its magic. The two officers were occupying the interrogation room which gave them the desired privacy.

"I met this guy, Seungwoo, six months ago during an unfortunate event." started the older officer his story. "I wish I never did though."

The female officer was confused, but let her supervisor to continue the story.

"His soulmate, no his boyfriend, other half, whatever you choose to call him. Apparently they were a part of that 1% of population having a complementing tattoo. They were destined to spend their lives together but the boy killed himself by jumping from the building next to the station. And he left this kid here."

The female officer was shocked.

"He was suffering from a depression and one morning he just jumped off. I met Seungwoo that day. The poor guy saw it all."

The male officer took a sip from his coffee and continued.

"Since then Seungwoo visits this place every morning to watch the sunrise citing the promise of them being always together. He keeps blaming himself about being just a slightly bit late, if he wasn't, who knows what would have happened."

"Every morning shows his unchanging love for the one who left him here alone."

"I wish there is a way to lessen the burden on his heart." mentioned the female officer before leaving the room to get back to work leaving the coffee cup untouched.

____

With the ongoing sunrise, Seungwoo turned to face Yohan. Yohan understood the gesture. They exit the building and stood just in front of the police station where they first met just two hours ago.

Yohan turned towards Seungwoo so the two of them were facing each other.

"Maybe we will get to see each other again somehow. Bye Yohan."

"Goodbye."

With a last glance, they turned the opposite sides and parted ways with the sun in the background. The birds were chirping, the morning air was clear and refreshing.

The only proof reminding Yohan that the night encounter happened was Seungwoo's jacket still on his shoulders.

The night ended one chapter and the morning started a new one.

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to hit me up with suggestions, remind me of mistakes or just talk to me about anything and everything on my twitter @natus_ka_


End file.
